Overwhelmed by O'Reilly and Olbermann, CNN's Campbell Brown Resigns

Faced with abysmal ratings ratings and "indomitable" competition,
CNN's prime-time anchor Campbell Brown has resigned. She issued a statement
conceding that her brand of straight, non-partisan reporting wasn't
attracting audiences. "The simple fact is that not enough people want to
watch my program, and I owe it to myself and to CNN to get out of the
way so that CNN can try something else." Pundits praised her frank address, calling it "refreshing," "heartfelt" and "brutally honest."

Each weeknight, Brown faced tough competition from partisan
firebrands Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann on Fox News and MSNBC.
O'Reilly's 3.34 million viewers and Olbermann's 1.03 million dwarfed her
nightly average of 591,000.

It Doesn't Get More Competitive Than 8 PM, writes Brian Stelter at The New York
Times: "Ms. Brown was anchoring in arguably the toughest time slot in
cable news, 8 o’clock Eastern, the same time that Bill O’Reilly of the
Fox News Channel and Keith Olbermann of MSNBC go head-to-head. Compared
with those opinion-oriented shows, her news program was largely an
afterthought, at least in the nightly ratings match-up."

CNN's Anchors Are Dropping Like Flies, notes Joe Pompeo at Business Insider: "Brown
is the third high profile anchor to leave ratings-troubled CNN in the
past seven months. Lou Dobbs left in November and Christiane Amanpour
fled for ABC in March."

'She Isn't Kidding,' writes Dylan Stableford at The Wrap:
"Year-to-date, her program is down 38 percent in total viewers and 40
percent in the 25-to-54-year-old demo, according to Nielsen. The May 14
broadcast hit a record low for Brown in both categories -- averaging
314,000 total viewers and just 66,000 in the 24-54 demo."

What's
Next for Brown and CNN? Mediaite's Steve Krakauer, who broke the
story, brainstorms: "The question becomes – what would CNN put at 8pmET?
One possibility is a return to a Crossfire-like program, a
possibility thrown out in the last few months. And what would Brown do
next? Well she has two young children, 2 and 1, both of whom were born
since she came over to be a prime time host after her time at NBC.
Hosting at 8pmET eliminated the possibility of being around at night."

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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